Passions run high at Fernwood Resort gun show

Conversations about the ethics of guns, the legality of guns, American culture and ethics in general surfaced Saturday at a large gun show held at Fernwood Resort.

CHAD SMITH

Conversations about the ethics of guns, the legality of guns, American culture and ethics in general surfaced Saturday at a large gun show, attended by hundreds, at Fernwood Resort.

Obviously, the massacre in Newtown, Conn., last month was on many attendees' minds and made many attendees a bit more passionate when they discussed the weapons being sold and the national gun debate.

Here's a sample of some sights and conversations from the show:

•"Let's face it. Criminals will always find a way to get guns. Why, then, can't we as regular, law-abiding people also be able to get guns? We should be able to protect ourselves," said Robin Bishop of Hackettstown, N.J., who came to the show to buy a new gun for home protection.

•If a picture is worth a thousand words, then so too perhaps were the slogans seen on the pro-gun T-shirts at the show: "Guns Don't Kill People, Guns Kill Deer"; "A Gun in the Hand is Worth Two Cops on the Phone"; "If Guns Kill People, Spoons Make People Fat"; "iPack"; "Fear a Government that Fears Guns."

•At a section where stun guns were sold, a merchant was showing one off. A young woman and an older man were looking at a stun gun.

The young woman asked the merchant, "Yeah, but are they legal in New Jersey?"

"Who cares if they are legal in New Jersey," said the older man next to her. "If someone comes after you, you zap them — boom, end of story."

•A couple from Poland now living near Wilkes-Barre, Agata Pawlica and Mariusz Hacia, said they signed up to be members of the NRA for the first time on Saturday.

They said they chose to sign up for the association because if they ever have any legal worries in respect to their guns, the NRA will back them up. They also said it's good for insurance purposes. They said that having guns made them feel safe in their home.

Asked if they felt they would ever need a gun in Poland, they both said no. When asked why they thought they needed a gun in America, they said that they felt America was more violent.

They also said that, even though they loved the many cultures in America, it creates a sort of tension that increases the chances for violence.

•Monica Lagano of New York said that she was sickened by what happened in Newtown. But she argued that guns were not the culprit in that tragedy.

She felt punishing gun owners will solve nothing.

"Have you ever heard of fire starters? People who start fires to kill people? If someone wants to kill, they will find a way."

•Henry Jacobs, a recruiter for the NRA, said he would only speak his personal opinions to the press. He said he wasn't exactly sure what should be done about the violence in schools.

He said he didn't think there was enough money to put an armed guard or police officer in every school. He said gun-owning parents should take more responsibility, that his kids grew up around guns, that they never had any restricted access to guns. He said he taught them never to point a gun at someone unless they intended to kill that person.

He said that the message of never point a gun at anyone was so deeply ingrained in his children that his son, an expert marksman, refused to play paint ball because he didn't want to point a gun at anyone.

•Jason Zavala of Stroudsburg was at the show to buy a handgun for home protection. He said he believes guns are important because good people should be able to protect themselves.

"I don't want to be the guy who doesn't have a gun if a bad guy's got one," Zavala said.

Did he feel that a confrontation that wouldn't normally escalate actually escalate if a gun were involved?

"Look, America is a violent place. Let's not lie. This country was founded on violence," he said. "Look what happened to the Indians. Look at the Civil War, for God's sake: it was cousin killing cousin. Until violence changes, I want to be able to protect myself."